ABSTRACT

Benedetto Croce is one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. His work in aesthetics and historiography has been controversial, but enduring. When the first edition of ^Esthetic appeared in 1902, Croce was seen as foremost in reasserting an idealistic philosophy, which despite its source in continental idealists from Descartes to Hegel, offers a system that attempts to account for the emergence of scientific systems. Croce thus combines scientific and metaphysical thought into a dynamic aesthetic.

Croce regards aesthetics not merely as a branch of philosophy, but as a fundamental human activity. It is inseparable from historical, psychological, political, economic, and moral considerations, no less than a unique frame of artistic reference. Aesthetic is composed of two parts: Part One concentrates on aesthetic theory and practice. Among the topics it covers are: intuition and expression, art and philosophy, historicism and intellectualism, and beauty in nature and in art. Part Two is devoted to the history of aesthetics. Croce analyzes such subjects as: aesthetic ideas in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Giambattista Vico as the inventor of aesthetic science, the philosophy of language, and aesthetic psychologism.

In his new introduction to a classic translation, John McCormick assesses Croce's influence in aesthetic theory and historiography. He notes that the republication of this work is an overdue appreciation of a singular effort to resolve the classic questions of the philosophy of art, art for its own sake and art as a social enterprise; both find a place in Croce's system.

part I|152 pages

Theory of Æsthetic

chapter I|10 pages

Intuition and Expression

chapter II|10 pages

Intuition and Art

chapter III|10 pages

Art and Philosophy

chapter VIII|6 pages

Exclusion of Other Spiritual Forms

chapter XI|5 pages

Criticism of Æsthetic Hedonism

chapter XVI|10 pages

Taste and the Reproduction of Art

chapter XVII|12 pages

The History of Literature and Art

chapter XVIII|13 pages

Conclusion: Identity of Linguistic and Æsthetic

part II|338 pages

History of Æsthetic

chapter I|20 pages

Æsthetic Ideas in GræCo-Roman Antiquity

chapter V|15 pages

Giambattista Vico

chapter VII|15 pages

Other Æsthetic Doctrines of the Same Period

chapter VIII|11 pages

Immanuel Kant

chapter X|8 pages

Schopenhauer and Herbart

chapter XI|12 pages

Friedrich Schleiermacher

chapter XIII|16 pages

Minor German Æstheticians

chapter XV|12 pages

Francesco De Sanctis

chapter XVI|18 pages

Æsthetic of the Epigoni

chapter XVII|16 pages

Æsthetic Positivism and Naturalism

chapter I|14 pages

Rhetoric: Or the Theory of Ornate Form

chapter II|13 pages

History of the Artistic and Literary Kinds

chapter III|10 pages

The Theory of the Limits of the Arts

chapter IV|16 pages

Other Particular Doctrines

chapter |16 pages

Bibliographical Appendix